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Original poster

To wonder why if the tories are so unpopular, they always get in?

223 replies

maggiethemagpie · 03/07/2016 15:29

Are there a lot of secret Tory voters who won't admit it? They have won most elections since the second world war, so they must be doing something right (in terms of appealing to the electorate to continuously vote for them) yet I see a lot of Tory bashing threads on here and I don't know anyone in my own life who'd admit to voting Tory.

I'm not particularly a leftie, I'm a centrist if anything and believe a balance of left and right leaning politics is optimal, but it seems like it is very 'right on' to admit to a socialist view and wanting to do more for society's vulnerable or poor, but to admit to admiring conservative views is not acceptable. You hear of 'Tory Scum' but never 'Labour Scum'.

So who are all these people voting for the conservatives? Because they always seem to get in, and the Blair years when they did not, people say Blair was a red Tory anyway!

Or are people just afraid to admit what their political views are if it does not sound socially acceptable?

OP posts:
MerchantofVenice · 03/07/2016 21:57

I find it a bit pathetic that people won't admit to voting Tory. If you really believe they are what's best for this country (and not just you, and screw everyone else), then stand up for your beliefs.

WalrusGumboot · 03/07/2016 22:05

I'd admit it if someone asked me, I just don't feel the need to crow about it on social media.

MerchantofVenice · 03/07/2016 22:11

Well, it's not much to crow about really, is it?

JazzierShadeOfBlack · 03/07/2016 22:24

I am aware that universal suffrage was a long time coming but, and this may surprise, you at one point-only women, lunatics and prisoners were not allowed to vote.

louisagradgrind that is incorrect. 40% of men did not have the right to vote until the 1918 Representation of the People Act. This Act extended the right to vote to all men, and also to women aged over 28 who met certain criteria. All women gained the right to vote in 1928.

Statelychangers · 03/07/2016 23:18

I want the lib dems back!

ChablisTyrant · 03/07/2016 23:39

I think the lib dems are on their way back. I've never voted anything other than Labour, but I can see the party transforming into anything I could vote for again. I'm a social liberal and generally pretty sceptical of the State's ability to deliver anything, though I would prefer greater redistribution which is why I used to vote Labour.

Most Tories I meet in my job are really nice decent people. Much nicer than Labour types who can often be arrogant and rude.

derxa · 03/07/2016 23:41

Well I voted Tory in 2015 for the first time in my life. I'm a floating voter. However given what's just happened I may be floating off to another party next time. And the Tories don't always get in.

itsbetterthanabox · 03/07/2016 23:50

They don't win by a very big majority. It's always small.
But the answer is older people-
https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3575/How-Britain-voted-in-2015.aspx
It depends who one mixes with but I'm in my twenties and very few people I know vote Tory. Many don't vote or vote labour or more fringe parties. The discussion may different if I were in my 60s. But also older people tend to not want to talk about politics so these conversations don't happen.

maninawomansworld01 · 03/07/2016 23:58

*As a tory voter with mainly labour voting friends, we tend to keep quiet because the left can be very nasty because they think Tories have no hearts. The left are extremely vocal and quite frankly they can become quite nasty and personal with their attacks.

Thankfully common sense sees through in elections smile*

This^^^

I always find it very amusing that the people who preach tolerance, compassion, understanding, equality, diversity and all of that stuff are the most nasty, intolerant, aggressive and unpleasant people you could meet when you dare to disagree with them!

ErrolTheDragon · 04/07/2016 00:11

The Tories don't always get in - the op must be very young or have a short memory. A moderate Labour Party is electable.

The reality of our wretched first past the post system is that centrists have to make a pragmatic choice - where I am, libdem has no chance, labour weak, UKIP rearing its ugly head so tactical Tory vote is better than letting them in.

mynamesnotMa · 04/07/2016 00:40

Think there is an aspirational vote. There is a feeling of you are safer with a conservative gov as they won't waste your hard earned taxes on public services.
The other reason is The Sun and Mail. .some people believe the news.

Andrewofgg · 04/07/2016 05:36

Possibly because people think they will do the necessary but unpopular thing?

MerchantofVenice · 04/07/2016 06:42

we tend to keep quiet because the left can be very nasty because they think tories have no hearts

Well, if the left are busy explaining (nastily or not) why the tories are heartless, why not explain why they are actually not heartless but 'pragmatic' or whatever you believe? It always seems to me that there isn't a decent defence of, say, slashing disability allowance, or restricting public spending to the point that children's centres and buses and libraries are disappearing. You know - the public stuff that the richer people can do without.

It's all very well sitting there quietly thinking 'I know best but I won't engage with debate in case someone troubles my conscience with an inconvenient truth' but hoe can you really believe in these ideas if you're too afraid to defend them? Or are the left 'nasty' because you can't think of a legitimate way to argue with them?

Lighteningirll · 04/07/2016 06:54

I do engage, doesn't stop the nastiness if you don't understand after reading this thread you are probably part of the problem :

I always find it very amusing that the people who preach tolerance, compassion, understanding, equality, diversity and all of that stuff are the most nasty, intolerant, aggressive and unpleasant people you could meet when you dare to disagree with them!

MissMargie · 04/07/2016 07:09

If you really believe they are what's best for this country (and not just you, and screw everyone else), then stand up for your beliefs

Hahahahah.

I believe we should have a free NHS, money for disabled, good schools etc but I don't think the money (ie taxes) grows on trees which most lefties do (or they think 'the rich' should pay for it all or at least most of it). And they say things like 'I would be happy to pay more' when the bottomless pit which is the welfare system needs more than a couple of quid each.

I am a realist and pragmatic so vote conservative mostly.

GColdtimer · 04/07/2016 07:42

Because when you vote for a party which screws up education, cripples the health service, cuts disability living allowance and orchestrates the closure of essential services (that are probably not used by the majority of Tory voters) it makes you look uncaring.

There is a way to fund essential services but it would mean forcing big business to pay the taxes they should and increased taxation. I would be happy to pay more tax. Tory voters seem wedded to the myth that the Tories are much better at looking after the economy.

There is a problem with our electoral system, and the centre/left vote is split between many parties. With hindsight we can see that the coalition actually were probably pretty effective at putting the breaks on some of Tory policy which is why I think PR would be much better system.

I have floated between libdem and labour depending on where I have lived. My seat is (was before the coalition) a marginal Tory/ libdem.

AlbertHerbertHawkins · 04/07/2016 07:43

The Tories win, despite only getting 30-something % of the vote due to the first past the post electoral system and also advantageous boundary decisions.

Togaparties · 04/07/2016 07:47

Proud Tory here!

GColdtimer · 04/07/2016 08:02

Proud of the education fuck up? Are you happy with the new SATS for example and plans to privatise education? Proud of cuts to welfare? Being part of a system which voted for £30 cut to the disabled. Proud of NHS shambles? Proud of increasing reliance on food banks. Proud of adult social care being virtually non existent? Proud of the closure of children's centres all over the country? I could go on.

Or proud of a party with leaders willing to fuck over the nation for political gamesmanship?

I would be very interested in what it is about the Tories that makes you so proud.

Mov1ngOn · 04/07/2016 08:26

I think it's an "I'm alright jack" attitude. If you're not personally affected by disability cuts or aware of the chaos caused to education.

Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost · 04/07/2016 08:30

Yes, Two. Until it effects them.

ConfuciousSayWhat · 04/07/2016 08:43

There's nothing wrong with the SATS. My dc took them this year without issue, it was all hype about nothing.

The left love a "tax everyone to death" school of thought but don't seem to realise if you increase the taxes you'll force businesses and entrepreneurs out of the uk. If you keep rates at a desirable level you'll bring in more business bring in more employment and bring in more money.

Andrewofgg · 04/07/2016 08:50

Keep first past the post for the Commons; replace the Lords with a Senate elected by proportionate representation; and give the Senate a veto on all Bills except Money Bills.

And swear off plebiscites.

sorenofthejnaii · 04/07/2016 09:06

The left love a "tax everyone to death" school of thought but don't seem to realise if you increase the taxes you'll force businesses and entrepreneurs out of the uk

Yes, Because everyone in a political group thinks exactly the same Hmm

Patronising, much.

harryhausen · 04/07/2016 09:07

I'm a moderate/down the middle type of voter who has voted Lib Dem more than any other party. Even I'm a bit scared to speak about politics to my wider social circle as there are some things the Torys have done that I have agreed with. I'm a professional in the creative industry and I find my peers very very angrily far Left. I daren't speak some of my thoughts.

I don't like the way (even this week) John McDonnell of the Labour Party stood on a platform and said he was anti-big business WTF?

The Tory cuts have been brutal. However, even I can see that the countries finances were in the shitter. Something had to be done. The fact that our economy and unemployment figures have recovered faster than any other EU country (present Brexit debacles aside....could all go back to crap from here). The NHS needs billions and billions. Not quite sure how to get all the funding it's needs to be honest although I support its free at the point of need passionately.

My dd sat the Y6 SATS this year. It's was a lot harder than previous years but you know what, she sailed through without much incident. Now it's a distant memory.

I've learned to keep quiet on politics as I sway in the wind a bit but I read, watch and listen politics avidly. One of my oldest friends is a Tory MP and another friend is a Plaid Cymru leader. We all talk. They're not Satan.